cutie pie cook: jenn's cooking blog: October 2013

Greek yogurt is a staple in my kitchen, and I experiment with it A LOT. My latest project was to see whether or not I could make homemade greek yogurt cream cheese out of this stuff. I figured cream cheese wouldn't be too difficult to mimic since greek yogurt is already a bit tart and quite thick already. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any recipes to go off of so here's to the first-ever homemade greek yogurt cream cheese recipe listed on the interwebs!

For one block or container of greek yogurt cream cheese, all you need is three ingredients:

1 cup Fage greek yogurt

1/3 cup sour cream

1/4 tsp salt

1.) Line a colander or sieve with a four layers of cheese cloths or in my case, flour sack towels for a budget friendly alternative. Set colander or sieve over a bowl.

If you don't have cheese cloths or flour sack towels, a few layers of those thick Viva paper towels or coffee filters will suffice.

2.) In a bowl, mix the greek yogurt and sour cream together.

I chose Fage greek yogurt specifically for this recipe, because it's really thick and it's the least tart plain yogurt I have ever tried. I usually can't eat plain yogurt, well plain, but Fage would be the exception. Also, please use REAL sour cream for this recipe. I know many of you will try to substitute a low-fat or fat-free variety of sour cream for this, but let me warn you, I have tried it and can assure you that it won't turn out the same. I suppose the difference in consistency and taste isn't too discernible so some of you may not notice, but I definitely noticed and didn't like it too much. Also, real sour cream is so much healthier for you too. The lighter versions always contain so many harmful fillers, thickeners, and artificial flavors to compensate for the fat removed.

3.) Scoop the greek yogurt/sour cream mixture into the cheese cloth.

Make sure the whey is dripping off thin and translucent. If it's thick and white, you may be losing too much curd and will need to and more layers of cloth in the colander.

4.) Fold the edges of cloth over the mixture and place a lid or saran wrap over the bowl. Refrigerate and let it drain for the day or overnight.

5.) Take bowl out of the fridge and check the consistency. The mixture should be quite thick and some of the drained whey may have evaporated from the bowl. Add salt to the cream cheese and combine thoroughly.

The salt really helps to enhance the flavor and marries fantastically with the slight tartness of the greek yogurt cream cheese. I could have added more salt, but I watch my daily salt intake, so I held off a bit. If you think it tastes bland, just increase the salt to 1/4 tsp in the recipe or sprinkle till your desired saltiness. Just make sure the salt gets evenly incorporated. Also, instead of adding more salt to boost the flavor, try enhancing the cream cheese by flavoring it with herbs and vegetables...even fruit if you like sweeter varieties of cream cheese. I usually like adding a clove of minced garlic or mashed roasted garlic to the mix. Kraft Philadelphia makes a chive and onion cream cheese that I crave every so often and that can easily be mimicked by adding one tablespoon of chopped chives and half a teaspoon of onion powder.

6.) Smooth down the cream cheese and refrigerate. It will stay fresh for up to 2 weeks.

Now that I've mastered the greek yogurt cream cheese...my next experiment will be using greek yogurt to make cream cheese frosting! Let me know if you want me to post the recipe! It's going to be perfect for the autumn season...pumpkin bars and other ohmylish treats. In the meantime, enjoy the greek yogurt cream cheese! It's not Philadelphia cream cheese, but I actually like it a lot more! Good luck!